The Darfur Consortium

An African and International
Civil Society Action for Darfur

Members' Publications

August 17

Source: Al Ahram (government-friendly, Egyptian daily with over 1 million in circulation)
Headline: African Union Calls on Countries to Honor their Pledges to Hybrid Force

• Rudolph Adada, head of AU – UN hybrid force urged countries that pledged to participate in the force to honor their commitment by the end of this month
• Adada said the pledges are encouraging but insisted that the pledged troops’ quality must meet UN standards
• Sudanese newspaper indicated that deputy hybrid force leader is accused by Rwandan opposition of war crimes

Source: Al Khaleej (UAE daily, with over 80,000 in circulation)
Headline: Minnawi Faction Accuses Khartoum of Arming Darfur Militia and AU Says Darfur Force Must Meet International Standards

• Rudolph Adada, head of AU – UN hybrid force urged countries that pledged to participate in the force to honor their commitment by the end of this month
• Adada said the pledges are encouraging but insisted that the pledged troops’ quality must meet UN standards
• UN officials indicated that some of the pledged troops might not have proper equipment
• UN announcements came after AU Leader Conary said African pledges might satisfy the force’s troop needs
• Conary’s statement angered many rebel groups who argued that African troops did not prove they could protect the civilian population or provide stability in the region

Meanwhile, Sudan Liberation Movement – Minnawi faction accused the government of:

• Arming tribal militia
• This militia killed 170 civilians in South Darfur province in recent weeks
• The movement’s force intervened to end the fighting but it lost 8 of its soldiers

Source: Asharq Al Awsat (Saudi-owned Pan-Arab daily with wide circulation)
Headline: Save Darfur Coalition Criticized again over Number of Victims
By: Talha Jibril

After coming under attack by a British advertising regulator for claiming 400,000 people have died in Darfur crisis without being able to prove it, Save Darfur Coalition was taken to task by the New York Times a day later.  The newspaper wrote:

• The group was successful in getting Congress involved
• It was also the main force behind recent UN Security Council actions
• But the group’s use of higher number of victims than any other source made many question the group’s motives
• The New York Times said it relies on World Health Organization’s figures
• The organization said 158,000 people were killed up to 2005
• The paper acknowledged that government forces still kill civilians but the total number of victims can never be as high as the coalition’s figure

Meanwhile, Sudan Liberation Movement – Minnawi faction accused the government of:

• Arming tribal militia
• This militia killed 170 civilians in South Darfur province
• The movement’s intervened to end the fighting but it lost 8 of its soldiers

 Read the above in Arabic.